DeRozan scores 34 points, but Toronto Raptors fall to Hawks 125-121

TORONTO – While the Toronto Raptors were rolling to one victory after another on their recent hot streak, Dwane Casey never wavered from his defence-first stance.

Yes, the offence was running like a well-oiled machine, he would agree grudgingly. But if the defence didn’t follow suit, Casey cautioned, his team would pay the price.

Did Friday’s loss to Atlanta prove his point?

“It should,” Casey said sternly. “We scored enough points, 121 points, shoot 54 per cent, 47 per cent from the three. . . It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where our problem is.”

Dwight Howard had 27 points and 15 rebounds as the Hawks exacted revenge on the Raptors with Friday’s 125-121 victory. It was only two weeks earlier that the Raptors had humiliated the Hawks in a 128-84 rout, the largest margin of victory — 44 points — in franchise history.

The Hawks played with that loss like a collective chip on their shoulder.

“Without a doubt,” said DeMar DeRozan, who had 34 points to top Toronto. “Any competitor will keep that in the back of their mind, if you felt you got embarrassed, coming back here. I think they understood that. . . you could tell.”

Kyle Lowry had 27 points for the Raptors (18-8), whose loss was just their second in 12 games and first against an Eastern Conference team that’s not Cleveland this season.

Cory Joseph added 17 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 11, and Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson finished with 10 apiece.

Despite the loss, the Raptors scored 120-plus points for the eighth time this season — one away from the franchise-high of nine in an entire season.

But they allowed the Hawks to shoot 54 per cent, and got outhustled 44-28 on the boards.

“I said this. . . we’ve got to have defence in the game,” Casey said, for the umpteenth time. “We can score, I’m not worried about us scoring. Until we individually make a decision to guard your man, my man, we’re going to be an up and down team.”

Casey had warned his players before Friday’s game to forget all about that lopsided victory.

The Hawks clearly didn’t. With Paul Millsap back in the lineup — he’d sat out the previous meeting — Atlanta raced out to a 19-point lead in the first half, and took a 95-82 advantage into the fourth quarter.

“We brought it in the second half, but we didn’t bring it like we were supposed to in the first half, and they took advantage of it,” DeRozan said.

Lowry looked intent on single-handedly dragging the Raptors back into the game, and his three-pointer with just under five minutes to play pulled Toronto to within nine points. A Ross three-pointer, and a dunk by DeRozan with 3:47 on the clock, and suddenly the deficit was down to six points.

A handful of defensive errors by the Raptors proved costly though, as easy baskets by Millsap and Dennis Schroder put the Hawks up by eight with 1:22 on the clock.

A dunk by Valanciunas and a pair of baskets by DeRozan pulled Toronto to within three points with 11 seconds left, but Schroder sealed the deal for Atlanta with a free throw, much to the dismay of the capacity Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800.

“They made a couple of great plays at the end,” said Lowry, who hit six of his eight three-point attempts. “We’re always going to fight to the end. Tonight we just came up a little bit short.”

It was only the Hawks’ fourth win against Toronto in their last 12 meetings.

The Raptors, who were coming off a 123-114 victory two nights earlier in Philadelphia, remained within a couple of points in a back-and-forth first quarter, but the Hawks hit two baskets in the final minute, to stretch their lead to 35-27 to end the frame.

A pair of Ross free throws cut the Hawks lead to just four points with 5:47 left in the first half, but a three by Kent Bazemore capped a 23-8 Atlanta run that had the Hawks up by 19 points. Atlanta led 69-52 at halftime.

DeRozan led the way with 13 points in the third quarter as Toronto pulled to within five points, but the Hawks ended the quarter with a 12-4 run.

The Raptors are in Orlando on Sunday to face the Magic, return home to host the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, then depart for a six-game road trip.